Thursday, January 26, 2012

We've been busy this January, but we've been predictably bad at taking pictures of our adventures. At least it's good to know that some things never change, right?

This month we visited Sea World, the Safari Park (on one of the rainiest days this month...there were three of them), the zoo, we went to movies, played with friends, went on walks, and Reece put in many miles on his new bike. Have I mentioned before that I really love living in San Diego? It's so easy to be a mom here. There are always a million things to do, the weather is usually amazing, and there are so many truly incredible people here that let us be their friends.Who knew the Safari Park was so cool? We can get you free parking and one free pass if you come visit us...

Reece and Amelia are growing and learning and it's so fun to watch. Reece is too smart for his own good. One of his favorite things is to turn on the computer, log in, open pbskids.org and play games. He does that all on his own, and it's terrifying to me. I'm all for kids learning how to use computers, but I just didn't know he would learn so quickly and so young. He's also losing a little bit of his two year-old insanity--a trend we hope will continue.

Amelia is just amazing. She is so sweet. I was so afraid of having a daughter because I thought I wouldn't know how to relate to her (even though I'm also somebody's daughter). Being the middle child in a family of 6 boys (plus sisters as bookends), I thought having a girl would be a mystery and a challenge. It's exactly the opposite. I love her cuddles, her giggles, and her nearly-constantly pleasant nature. She's always ready with a smile and a hug. I remember when Reece was her age I kept thinking, "It'll be so fun when he learns how to hug." He just wasn't affectionate or cuddly, but she's been that way since birth.

Mia loves her daddy. It's a great thing for me, because she'll let him put her to sleep, feed her, cuddle her when she's grumpy, etc. All of that = freedom for mommy. Hooray! I should also mention that Paul deserves all of that love, because he is an amazing dad. He also has editing privileges on this blog, so you'll never know who actually wrote that.

Amelia's now got two teeth and has finally mastered rolling over both ways. She's been sitting up since four months, but until last week she was too chubby to roll. Now that she's got it, though, she prefers rolling over to pretty much everything else. (Her inner-monologue: "Wow, I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go to sleep...wait a minute, I could roll over! Yay! Yipee! I'll never sleep again!!!") So basically we love her sweet temperament, and I would have seven more girls if they could all be just like her (that's not an announcement...when I'm pregnant with septuplets, I'll make the announcement much more obvious than that).

I look like a cartoon villain in this picture, but Amelia's chubby cheeks are just too adorable to pass up. Don't you just want to smoosh them? I think I'll go kiss her right now...

Reece had his first race last weekend. Paul's brother John had signed up his girls Amy and Natalie to run in a 1 mile fun run. So we headed to Temecula so Reece could race with his cousins. We pumped him up beforehand, but after an hour drive in the pouring rain, he was a little less than excited to run. So in reality, Paul ran a 1 mile fun run while carrying a reluctant toddler. In the end, Reece got a medal, a shirt that was way too big for him (but fits me), and all sorts of bragging rights. The bragging rights haven't gone to waste. In fact, right after his (dad's) race, he saw a street sign saying "10 MPH" and assumed that was for his race, so he immediately changed his story to be, "I ran 10 miles today. I was super fast. Now I'm super tired." He has been telling us about the race all week and today he informed me that he'll be running another race this coming Saturday. You're all welcome to come watch his imaginary race (he'll probably actually make Paul go running and claim the victory as his own).

Yay, Reece! Is it weird that I teared up while watching him finish that race? He clearly didn't even run it. That's the great thing about being a mom, I guess. Your kid's a winner even if he only falls under the "participant" category.